


From Player to Character

by Reflet271



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:18:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reflet271/pseuds/Reflet271
Summary: Being stuck in this world is NOT what one tends to agree to when playing a computer game. But as long as you're here, you might as well see what all the uproar is about.





	1. New world, same rules

The first thoughts that came to your mind as you sat up was a feeling of cold fear washing over you like a wave. You certainly don’t remember your bed being this hard, or cold for that matter. Opening your eyes, you come to realize that something is VERY off…

Last you checked, you didn’t live in a cave that’s dark and filled with pulsating blobs of goo. You scramble to your feet, backing into the corner of a wall. With a shaky breath, you try to recall what exactly lead to your predicament. Your friends all recommended you try out a brand new game the hour before you left work, what was the name? Del-something… You take another look around, the cavern is small, with a beaten up path way jutting out into the darkness. Moving with the pace of a snail, you make your way over to the path, eyes constantly shifting from blob to blob as they seem to be sleeping. With a sigh of resignation, you step into the dark, knowing that today cannot get worse from here. You hope.


	2. Follow the Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You want to slap your past self for jinxing the inevitable.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. You grunt as the pathway leads to a sheer drop down into what looks like a pit. You’ve tried throwing a pebble down, but it ALWAYS hits a cliff or two on the way down, screwing with your sense of how long it goes. Letting out a breath you were holding, you sit down and shimmy over to the cliff, with a glance back at the way you came, you hop over the ledge and plummet down. Miraculously, nothing seems to faze through whatever it is that you’re wearing. You remind yourself to take a closer look, before landing with a sudden thud and blacking out afterwards.

“Oy, Kris, did you hear that?” The human turned to look at their tormentor turned uneasy ally, and shook their head.   
“Hmm, must’ve been my imagination then.” With a nod, the two turn back to what they were looking at before, a giant, dark castle in an even darker cavern.

“Seriously? Who the hell thought this was a good design choice?” The taller of the two huffed, before moving forward at a quick pace. Kris followed shortly after, pausing in their footsteps when looking at the smaller buildings in front of the castle. With no hesitation, their companion threw the doors open, letting a gust of air flow through. She shivered, before walking in, Kris walking slightly behind her. 

Ugh, deja vu… You feel like something slammed into your back when you hit the ground, or maybe that’s just the bones in your body breaking. With a groan you sit upright, wincing at the pain in your right shoulder. Taking a look at it, you notice it had been bleeding while you were unconscious. Great, another thing to worry about. You grip onto the injury slightly, any more and you’re sure you’d pass out again from the pain. You walk forward, one foot in front of the other. Concentrating is difficult, but you manage to see a castle in the distance. Walking a little quicker, you soon arrive in what appears to be a plaza, with houses and a fountain nearby. You sigh in relief, before moving to the fountain and attempting to clean the blood off your shoulder as best you can. A sharp gasp makes itself known, and you whip your head around to face… something green?


	3. Meet the Inhabitants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making new friends will prove essential to your survival, wherever you are. You just didn't expect it to be anything like this.

The two of you stare at each other, before the weird, green thing clears their throat.  
“H-hello!” His voice jitters a bit. Makes sense, he’s probably never a person like you. Blood probably doesn’t help either. Reminding yourself that someone is in front of you, you answer back.  
“Uh, hi.” Smooth.

“Oh dear, are you ok?” He notices your bleeding shoulder, moves to inspect it, pausing when you flinch.  
“I don’t bite, promise! I just want to see if I can help!” With a weary glance, you nod and let go of the injury, noting how it’s starting to crust over with dried blood. He looks at it carefully, and you notice there’s someone else nearby. Another human, with an unsightly pale shade of blue for skin. You blink, they stare back at you. Silence passes, before you see something glowing to the right of you. A soothing sensation flows through your body and you turn your head to the right. The injury is gone now, and it’s been replaced by a smiling, thing. 

“There! How does it feel?” You move your shoulder experimentally, nodding when it feels like the same as before your crash landing.  
“Good as new, thanks kid.” He blushes, before walking back to the human.  
“Kris, why don’t we have him accompany us? At least until he decides to leave.” Kris, you assume, nods, and extends a gloved hand to pull you up from the fountain. You take it, and realize how much taller you are compared to them, The green guy barely reaches your waist, and Kris is just slightly under your chest. Kris begins to walk eastwards, turning his head to look back at the two of you. You quickly catch up, following the two behind slightly. Soon you come across a small room, with what looks to be a dummy with the exact same clothes as your healer. 

“Oh, that’s right! Kris, Do you know how battles work down here?” Kris shakes his head, and turns to look at you. You repeat the action, and gaze at the dummy.  
“I suppose I’ll have to teach both of you then!” You nod, and get into what you think is a battle ready position, arms facing slightly away from your body, and feet spread apart from each other. Your left hand brushes against something near your pants pocket, and with a glance, you see a pistol sticking out of a holster. Shrugging, you pull it out completely and hold it in your left hand.  
“Now Kris, how about you try FIGHTing? You too, uh…” You glance at him, speaking loud enough so he can hear your name.  
“(Y/n).” He nods, smiling at you.

“Right, and my name’s Ralsei!” You blink, before smiling as well and facing the dummy once more. Kris, taking a step forward, slices the dummy with a wooden sword. You figured your turn was next, and line up the barrel with the dummy’s head. Crack! The resulting shot nearly pulls your left arm upwards completely, but you manage to steady it enough so you don’t fall over. Ralsei nods, and faces the two of you again.  
“Great, so next is ACTing. Kris, why don’t you try to hug the dummy? (Y/n), since you use ranged attacks, try DEFENDing!” You raise an eyebrow. 

“DEFEND with what exactly?” Ralsei catches your drift, and blushes.  
“Oh, um. Your arms, I guess?” You blanch, he JUST healed you, and now you’re gonna break your arms AGAIN? With a sigh you comply, raising your left arm diagonally and your right placed horizontally to hopefully cover all parts of your chest. Kris seems to think about his options, before turning towards Ralsei and hugging him. It brings a grin to your lips, and a blush to his.

“K-Kris, I don’t think… Well, I guess if you want to, it’s alright…” Kris nods, and hugs him for a moment longer, before moving back to his spot. Ralsei nods, before muttering to himself and holding his hand up. A blue spark passed between him and the dummy, and it flashed for a brief moment. Kris and Ralsei look at you, and you at them.  
“So, what next?”  
“Well, next we go towards that door over there!” Ralsei points at the end of the room, where a large golden door looms over the whole area. You notice it’s partly open, and give a quizzical glance to Ralsei.

“Is it uh, supposed to be open like that?” Ralsei looked at the door, and recognition shone on his face.  
“Oh! Kris, I think Susie already opened it for us!” Kris nodded, turning to you and pointing, then to the door.  
“Me? You want me to lead?” He nods.  
“Well, alright…” You ready your gun, noting that even though you fired a bullet, no actual rounds were even inside. Stepping in front, you walk towards the door and open it further, waving a hand to the two to go in. They walk in front, and you shut the doors behind you, and let it slam shut. You sigh to yourself, thinking that today officially became the weirdest one yet.


	4. Fields of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A change of scenery does good for anybody, though you think you and your last teammate will never get along...

Upon passing through the door, you’re greeted by a vast field of purple. A sign stands to the right of you, and, despite psychics being a thing, trees are shaped like blocks. You walk over to the sign and read it out loud.  
“Warning, enemies ahead! You’re gonna die! Signed, Lancer.” You blink, before turning towards the other two in your group. They shrug at you.  
“Lancer is one of the, uh, bad guys (Y/n)!” Ralsei speaks in a unsure tone. You look to Kris, who nods their head, and continues to walk past the sign. You trail behind him, with Ralsei bringing up the rear. 

You notice someone standing near another sign, and decide to talk to them. You clear your throat, and they jump, turning to look at you. He’s pretty short and round for a guy, with what looks like a spade for a head, and a spade, suit?

“Hey! Who’re you? I know those two clowns, but you’re a new face here!” His voice is shrill and high, and you wince. Taking a step back, you introduce yourself.  
“(Y/n), huh? That’s a funny name for a human! Ho Ho Ho!” Was, that supposed to be a laugh? He points to the other two, who were watching this whole spiel before their eyes.

“Anyways, be careful! There’s a big, scary purple monster roaming around! She thrashed me and the army pretty well, so I’d be cautious!” Kris and Ralsei shared a look, before facing you and answering the question you had.

“That’s probably Susie, we should meet up with her before she decides to, thrash someone else…” You tilt your head to the side, noting how nervous Ralsei got when mentioning her. You say goodbye to your enemy, before walking off into the fields more. Two seconds later, a diamond stabs into your chest, and you cry out in pain. Pulling it out is even worse, and you turn to glare at whatever threw it. It’s another spade like monster, with a grin so blinding, you can’t help but growl. Ralsei and Kris rush over, the latter drawing his sword. Ralsei looks to you, concerned with the wound.  
“Are you alright?” You grunt, but continue to glare at the enemy, making sure it doesn’t blindside you again. Kris points his free hand at the enemy, and suddenly, your mind pulls up a slew of info about what just hit you. 

“Ru..dinn?” You utter, turning to Kris with a questioning gaze. He nods, before looking at you. Remembering the training you went through, you decide to ACT.  
“So, could you maybe, not do that to me again?” You call out, waiting for a response. Rudinn stalls, before nodding, not making another move at this point. Ralsei claps, before pointing at the monster and calling out “SPARE!” You blink, and the monster is gone. Ralsei turns towards you, and casts another gaze at your chest injury. You wave it off, reassuring him that the injury isn’t bad, it just caught you off guard. Continuing onwards, the three of you come across what appears to be a maze. Looking at it, it seemed straightforward, with a few twists and turns along the way. Steeling yourself, you take a step forward.

Taking your time to check every part of the maze, you come to a conclusion that whoever made it intended it to be very short, as you’ve reached the end by random luck. Kris turns back towards the maze, spotting something in the distance. He tugs your sleeve to get your attention.  
“Eh? You wanna see what’s back there?” He nods. Well, you suppose there’s no harm in going back, since you know where the exit is. You tell the two to stay put while you head back into the maze, looking out for this thing that Kris told you about. After a few minutes of backtracking, you come across a small red box. You pry it open. Inside was a small, crumpled up white ribbon. You raise a brow, who leaves a ribbon in a chest? Shaking the thoughts out of your head, you turn back to the exit. 

“So what did you find?” Ralsei asks you, staring at the thing you held behind yourself. You shrug, revealing the white ribbon to them. Ralsei blinks, before his face lights up in excitement.  
“Oh! It’s a piece of ARMOR!” You give him an incredibly slow blink. Kris tilts their head.  
“Ah, right. You two don’t know this, but a lot of items in this world can be used as ARMOR, Kris, how about you try equipping it?” Kris nods, seeming to look at the ribbon for a second. He nods his head once, before turning to you. With some fidgeting, he ties the ribbon around your wrist, smiling up at you once he’s done. You face feels warmer, even in a place as cold as this.

“U-uh, thanks, I guess.” Ralsei looks at the two of you, before letting loose a mischievous smile. You glare at him weakly, biting back a comment you had in your head. With a skip in his step, Ralsei beckons the both of you towards a puzzle in the next area over. You glance at Kris, who shrugs and follows his friend. 

The puzzle was simple enough, all you had to do was step on some switches in a short time. The first was easy enough, you didn’t even have to help with it at all. The second, not so much.

“ARGHHHHH!” The front of your foot connected with the wall, a loud echo sounding afterwards. Needless to say, the second puzzle got on your nerves. In essence, while Kris and Ralsei had no problem with their part of the puzzle, only requiring you to follow behind them, yours was another thing entirely. Two crystal structures stood apart from each other, and both had to be shot with a special bullet left in a box that never seemed to run out of them. Problem was, it only gave you one bullet per attempt, and the switches were placed in such a way that blocked any sort of easy ricochet you could do to hit both of them, and Kris’s sword wasn’t metal, the bullet would just pierce right through it. In short, the three of you were stuck. 

“N-now now (Y/n), maybe we don’t NEED to solve this puzzle yet, there aren’t any spikes blocking the way.” Ralsei nervously said. You turn towards him, and he flinched. Even Kris shivered with the way you looked at him. Letting out a deep breath, you hung your head and walked away from the wall. 

“Yeah, I guess so. Sorry for that.” You mumble, feeling guilty about scaring them. You remind yourself that they were probably just kids in terms of age, at least, you think they are. You follow them towards the right, leading up to a door that was shut. In front of it was a purple monster, banging on the door repeatedly. You looked at the door again. A huge crack was on its right. The monster turns around, and startles at the sight of three staring at them.

“Oh, it’s you two.” The voice sounds gruff, but not to the point where you’d mistake it for a male. You stare at her more critically. A black vest and purple shirt covers her body. Several wrist and arm bands adorned with spikes are on her as well. A golden buckle with an X shape keeps her baggy trousers in place, and a pair of sturdy black boots complete her ensemble. She notices you staring, and turns to you, giving what you think is a hostile look, you couldn’t tell with her hair in the way. 

“Looks like you picked up another chump to go along with your wishes, huh Kris?” You narrow your eyes, good first impression. Ralsei gives her an unamused stare.  
“Susie! You’ll have to forgive her (Y/n). Susie is, not the friendliest of monsters.” You scoff, and she perks up at the sound of your name.  
“(Y/n) huh? Weird name for a human, but eh, what do I know?” She crosses her arms and stares at you. 

So far your first impression of this new guy isn’t very high. For starters, when the hell did he even get here? You certainly don’t remember him falling down with you. You cross your arms and take a closer look at him. He’s taller than both Kris and the goat boy, but still a little shorter than you, placing him maybe below your normal eyesight. Like you, he’s got a simple black vest that exposes his arms, with a white shirt underneath. His (H/c) is long enough that he could pass for a girl, with his (E/c) staring back into your own. A white ribbon is tied to his left wrist, and he’s wearing what looks like flexible pants covered with bits of armor and a pair of combat boots, the black color matching nicely with him. You shake those thoughts out of your head, you’ve just met this kid, and you’re already thinking about his choice of wear? Kris and Ralsei seem at a loss for words, neither of them willing to break the tension that unconsciously built up between you and him. You smirk at him, and his eyes narrow even more. 

“So what’d they do to convince you to partner up with them?” He blinks, before replying.  
“They didn’t DO anything, in fact, we were looking for YOU.” You blink, before letting out a growl. If this fucker thinks he can just appear suddenly and boss you around, he’s got another thing coming. 

“Oh? Then I suppose you’ll do fine without me then!” You grin at the expression he makes. You’ve seen it a hundred times before in the faces of your caretakers, if you could even call them that. He clicks his tongue, rubbing his hand over his eyes. 

“Look, as much as I hate to admit it, we’re gonna need your help, and I’m pretty sure brute force won’t help YOU open that door, now would it?” Now it was your turn to be surprised. You couldn’t argue with his logic, you were stuck here for a while now, hoping that if you hit the door hard enough it would open. You grunt, before offering up your reply, shoving past him and going back the way they came. 

“Fine, I’ll help you losers, but only if it gets me home faster! Don’t even think for a second that you and I are friends!” You groan to yourself, there goes another chance to make someone NOT wanna deck you in the face later… He walks after you, with Ralsei and Kris following behind after. Ralsei cheers at you being back.  
“Hooray, Susie’s back! Cue the fanfare!” Suddenly, a huge blast of trumpets and other instruments signify your return. You give Ralsei a look, and walk off very slowly to the puzzle room. 

Sheesh, what’s up with her? You shake your head at her, knowing that that attitude might just get you killed at some point. Returning to the puzzle from before, you repeat all the steps that lead up to the solution. You take another look at Susie. She has an axe with a metal blade. An idea comes to your mind, with a sigh, you call her name. 

“Hey, Susie.” She looks at you, but says nothing otherwise. You take that as an okay to keep talking.  
“Think you can flip your axe up?” She blinks, Ralsei blinks, and you can’t see it, but your pretty sure Kris blinks too. She gives you a questioning look.

“The hell you need me to do that for?”  
“Just trust me on this one, alright?” She huffs, but gets ready to do as you said. You nod at Kris, who starts the clock and runs to the closest switch. Ralsei does the same, and Susie moves to hers after tossing the axe. You steady your aim and point your gun towards the axe, looking for the moment it begins to descend. You see the tip of the crystal behind the handle, and fire. The bullet bounces off her axe, hits one of the crystals and just barely nicks the other one. The ground shakes, and you hear the creaking of a door open.

“Wow! Good thinking (Y/n)!” Ralsei praises you. You chuckle and scratch your head.  
“I don’t think the thanks should go all to me.” He stares at you for a moment, before turning to Susie and repeating the phrase to her. Her face blushes, and she turns back to you, giving you a half-hearted glare. 

“Yeah well, just don’t expect me to listen to you guys ALL the time!” She starts for the door, and the three of you follow, laughing at her response. The four of you walk through the door, wondering where it would take you next.


	5. Interlude:Shopping and Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions hang in the air, as your beliefs on your companions get more and more confusing.

Walking through the door, You immediately realize that something is off. A round, red checker piece stands in front of you, with a smiling face and legs. The four of you get ready for whatever it decides to throw at you. For the most part, all it does is dance merrily, with a visible music note coming out of its mouth. Kris taps Susie’s shoulder, and mouths something to her. She looks at him with an incredulous expression.

“Huh? Why the HELL do you want me to do that?” She growls out. Ralsei chimes in afterwards.  
“Aw, Susie, maybe if you compliment it, We can win without FIGHTing!” She remains silent, before letting out a menacing grin.   
“Yeah, alright sure, I’ll give it a shot.” You raise your eyebrows, maybe she’s being serious this time? She clears her throat, and the checker piece looks at her.

“Hey, I really like the ax in your face.” With a swing of her arm, she sends the foe flying out of sight.   
“Where’d ya get it?” She starts to laugh maniacally. You share a grimace with Kris and Ralsei. The latter whispers to the two of you.  
“Erm, maybe we should warn people ahead of time before she attacks someone.” You nod, before looking back at her. She doesn’t seem to have heard the conversation, walking off towards a tent in the distance. You quicken your footsteps to catch up to her, looking at the tent in confusion. It’s very shoddily made, patches sewn into the sides and a large, wooden sign hung on the top reading SHOP. You enter the shop, and are greeted with a cat. Except he’s missing an eye, replaced with a button. He looks up at the sound of you entering, before giving a wide grin.

“Oh? Not often we get customers out here, much less four!” He chuckles, and a cold shiver passes between all of you. You take a look around. Various items and gear are strewn about, like he wasn’t even trying to organize his inventory. You rub your finger across the countertop, and a fine trail of dust follows your tracing. Kris looks at the weapons section, before looking at his own weapon and nodding. He picks up a sword, one that you somehow missed in your gloss over the room. It looks identical to his old one, with some decorations that wouldn’t look out of place for a halloween event. He moves up to the counter, placing the weapon on it with a clank. The owner’s ears twitch, before looking at you and saying “Two hundred.” You blink, before realizing he means for you to pay. You give him a nervous laugh, before checking your pockets for anything you may have missed. You pull out a single gold coin, with a large D on one side and a dollar sign on the other. You put the coin on the table.  
“Will this do?” He inspects the coin, before nodding and handing you back twenty silver coins. 

“Thanks for the service, will that be all?” You take a peek at a sign next to him. There’s a list of currencies and their values; Gold ones are worth five hundred, silvers are worth fifteen, and copper five. So, counting the coins up, you’ve got about three-hundred left. You look towards Ralsei, who looks back at you and smiles.  
“I don’t think I need anything right now, how about you Susie?” She turns at the sound of her name.   
“Nah, nothing here seems useful enough for me to use.” They all turn and look at you. You felt a bead of sweat go down your neck. Looking around, you spot a dagger hiding in the corner. You pick it up, giving it a few experimental swings. It’s light, and sharp enough to defend yourself with should one get close enough. You show the dagger to the cat, who nods and says “fifty” You count out four silver and hands them to him. He puts them away and hands back a single copper coin. Now that you’ve gotten some new equipment, Ralsei decides to speak up.   
“So, what’s your name?” The cat blinks, the three holes in his button eye making a question mark shape, somehow. He answers the question with a smile. 

“Seam, pronounced Shawm.” Ralsei nods, while you and Susie share a glance. Who names their kid like that? You ask him about why he set up shop all the way out here, he laughs, the kind that sets off the wrong kind of feelings.   
“Not much reason behind it, I'm afraid. Can’t sell things people who don’t even want to FIGHT.” You muddle the words in your head.   
“Are there people in this world who don't FIGHT?” Your question appears to catch him off guard, before he bounces back with a response.   
“Maybe, maybe not. Who can really say their choices matter in this world?” What? That doesn’t-  
“Start making sense before I BEAT some sense into ya!” Susie growls at him, patience is not her strong suit it seems. Seam laughs again, before turning to the purple monster. 

“To anyone else, that sentence made perfect sense to them. Now, do you want to continue this conversation, or do you wish to buy something?” It seems shop owners always direct you back to buying no matter where you go. You shake your head, before leaving the shop. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding, before slumping your shoulders and sighing. Ralsei looks up at you, concern etched on his face.  
“(Y/n), are you alright?” Kris looks to you as well, a small frown on his lips. You smile back at the two, waving your hand.  
“No no, I’m okay, just realizing how long it’s been since I fell down here.” Kris and Ralsei blinks, before Susie pipes up behind them.  
“Much as I hate to admit it, the guy’s right. We can’t keep goin’ like this.” You nod at Susie, moving next to a nearby tree and calling her over. You point at her axe, and she nods, taking a step back and swinging it as hard as she can. The tree groans, falling over a moment later. You direct Kris to help you to snap off the twigs, and Ralsei lights a fire on the bunch you’ve gathered. You take a spot nearest to the fire, stretching your arms above you, you let out a sigh of relief. Kris and Ralsei pick a spot opposite you, and Susie opts to sit to the left. The crackle of the fire brings a calming sensation to your body, and you take in a deep breath. Ralsei, ever the positive one, decides to start a conversation. 

“So (Y/n), where did you come from?” You flinch at the question, crap! This whole time, you’ve forgotten to come up with a story as to how you got here. If you blab about being in a computer game, Susie’ll NEVER let you live it down. You cough into your fist, before looking at the trio and speaking slowly.

“Well, it’s a quiet town, not a whole lot of people stop by anymore.” You ignore the look Susie gives you, and continue to talk.   
“From where I lived, you could see the whole town, small as it is. The people there are nice, though I’ve never really talked to them at all.” You give a wry smile, hoping that this will satisfy the three for now. Ralsei nods, happy to have gotten an answer from you at all. Time passes, and soon the two youngest of the group are sound asleep, hugging each other for warmth. You let out a yawn, before feeling a hand clamp down on your shoulder. You look up, and Susie is glowering down at you. She says two words to you, before moving off to a more secluded part of the area.

“Let’s talk.” 

You get up, and follow after her. Walking alongside her, you ask the question you have on your mind.

“So, what’s up?” She turns to look at you, and you catch a glimpse of yellow before her hair covers it up again. She sighs, looking to the ground, before walking up to you and grabbing your shoulder tightly.

“Look, I… Wanna apologize.” You blink, before raising an eyebrow.  
“Uh, not that I don’t appreciate it, but apologize for what?” She groans, before walking a little ways off from you.  
“Y’know, for being a jackass to you and all that shit.” You let out a quiet “Oh.” Before finding yourself at a loss for words. She sighs, looking at you again.   
“ Look, I’m not good at this, but I wanted to tell you this before you hate my guts forever. So I’m sorry, there I said it. Now let’s never speak of this again.” Before you have a chance to speak, she’s already started back to your makeshift camp. You catch her by holding her shoulder, and she stiffens at your touch. 

“Hold on, before you go back, I just want to ask, why are you so upset at us all the time?” She glances back at you, before looking forward again and moving. Your hand slides off of her shoulder as she does so, falling to your side, like the question that’s left in the air. You linger back a moment longer, before following her back to the camp. Coming back, you see her on the ground facing away from you, seemingly asleep. You stomp out the fire, before resting your back against the log, your eyes drifting to a close.


	6. King me!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You always DID prefer chess to checkers.

The shuffling of feet rouses you from your sleep, and you open your eyes. Kris and Ralsei are up, poking Susie with a leftover stick from last night. You blink, before getting up and walking over to them.

“What’cha up to?” They whirl around startled, looking up at you with semi-guilty looks.

“Kris wanted to get moving, so we thought we should wake up Susie first!” The look of Ralsei’s face as he says that screams liar to you. You look at Kris. He’s looking anywhere but directly at you. You grab the stick from him, having a plan formed in your head. Making sure the stick had no sharp edges, you wrapped leaf on the tip of the stick. Sneaking up in front of her, you crouch down and rub the leaf over her nose. She lets out a snort, before rolling over. In the back, you can hear Ralsei giggling to himself. You repeat the process a couple of times, before getting up and letting her body do the rest. She starts gasping, before letting out a loud sneeze, waking herself up in the process. The first thing she sees is you, standing up with a smug look on your face, waving the stick in front of her. You smile at her, before giving her two words.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” You learned that day that she can throw a mean punch.

“I don’t see why you had to deck me in the face!”  
“Well I don’t get why you three couldn't just fucking wake me up the normal way!” With a visible bruise on your right cheek, the four of you continued down the path. This argument has been repeating itself for the past three minutes, and you’re pretty sure that apology from yesterday is far, far behind in both of your minds. Ralsei and Kris are staying far ahead of you two, not daring to get caught in the crossfire. 

You swear those two made sure you woke up to what they were doing on purpose, since Susie doesn’t even suspect them of doing the same thing! You let out a sigh, before looking at her. She glares at you, and you can feel the anger radiating off her.  
“Sorry. Can we just move on from this? I won’t hold the punch against you.” She loosens up on the glare, huffing and turning around.  
“Yeah, sure. Long as you don’t pull something like that again, got it?” You nod, hoping that this wouldn’t be a running gag. Catching up to Kris and Ralsei, you come across a wide fenced off area, with two switches and a gate with spiked tips ahead. Whoever lived in this place sure liked puzzles… Still, you and Kris take a shot at the puzzle, while Ralsei and Susie stand near the gate. It looks simple enough, push the blocks onto the switches. Doing so however, results in nothing. You let out a confused noise, scratching your head at the puzzle. Susie bites back a laugh at your expression. You and Kris try the puzzle again, moving the boxes on opposite switches don’t do anything, neither does standing on them. Eventually, Kris gives up on the puzzle, sitting on the side and watching you get increasingly frustrated. You rub your eyes, how can something like this be so infuriating?! 

It’s the same puzzle like before, so what’s different about this one? You stop, same puzzle?

“Same puzzle…” You mutter to yourself. Susie picks this time to speak her mind.  
“We can always try my idea!” You glare at her.  
“I’d rather not get impaled again.” You quip back at her. Motioning Kris back over, you manually pick him up and set him down near the box, telling him to wait as you head back over to the other box. 

“Okay, on three, we push them at the same time. Ready?” He nods, and on three, you push them onto the switches. The gate lets out a horrifying screech, forcing you and the others to cover your ears. When it stops, you look to see the gate swung open. You smirk at Susie. She scoffs, walking through the gate. You give Kris a fistbump, and walk through the gate as well, preparing yourself for the next obstacle. You pass by another field, this time the path splits into two. You look to the three, who look at Kris. He looks at both paths, before heading to the right. You follow, noting how the ground changes to a checker like state. Walking a little further, your greeted by a long walkway, all in red and black. Looking further ahead, you can see Lancer with a bucket. Stepping onto the board, the four of you keep a steady pace, weary of the statues looming over all. Suddenly, whiteness blinds you, and your all sent back to the beginning. You blink, before attempting to cross the board again. Like before, your sent back to where the other three are. Susie groans.

“Fuckin great. We’re stuck!” You can’t help but agree, with the path acting like this, you don’t see an easy way of doing...how did Kris and Ralsei cross? Ralsei waves at you merrily, hand holding Kris’ tightly. 

“The floor (Y/n), look at the floor!” You do so, and notice how a neat row of the board changes to white every few seconds. Susie, ever the impatient one, runs ahead once again. You close your eyes and sigh, hearing a cry of angrish, looking to your right and seeing her back again. You pity her, really, you do. 

“Susie.” She looks at you, panting from attempting to run across the board. You don’t say anything, holding out your left hand at her. She blinks, before shoving your hand away.

“I don’t need your help.” Taking off again, she gets a decent amount of distance, before being warped back to the start again. She screams, kicking a nearby statue in anger. It wobbles, before crashing down near her. You can hear Kris and Ralsei laughing in the distance, before something sharp sticks into your leg. You groan to yourself as you crumple to the ground, wanting to just lose conscious at the fact that you got blindsided AGAIN. You take a deep breath, lifting yourself off the ground. The statue is moving, dodging Susie’s axe swings like it doesn’t even know she’s there. You pull out your dagger, moving closer to the statue and waiting for Susie to make another swing. As she does, the Statue dodges to the right, and you pivot your foot and swing your weapon as hard as you can. The statue cracks upon your blow, and it flees off into the distance. Sheathing your dagger, you walk over to Susie, putting your hand on her shoulder. She stiffens, looking at you. 

“Please, just trust me on this one.” You give her the most sincere look you can give at her. Her face blushes, and she begrudgingly slips her hand into yours. It’s rough, and you can feel some warmth radiating from it. You tug her as close as you can to where the flashing board begins, waiting for the right moment. You can feel her fidget, and before she has a chance to pull back, you rush forward. As fast as you’re going, she easily keeps pace with you, fortunate for you. You switch lanes every so often, keeping the timing of the flashes in your head as the two of you dart across. You can see Kris and Ralsei cheering you on, and you quicken your pace. You leap across the last few steps, gasping for air as you land. You look back. Susie is equally as exhausted as you are, gulping in lungfuls of air. Ralsei is clapping, and you can see Kris giving you a thumbs up.

“Good job (Y/n)!” You give your thanks, before straightening up. You start walking towards Lancer, but something holds you back. You look behind and, oh. You forgot that your hand was still holding onto Susie’s. She comes to the same realization you do, and you both pull away, avoiding eye contact with each other. Your face is beet red, and you’re pretty sure Susie’s is the same if you looked back, which you won’t. Ralsei giggles, and Kris wiggles his eyebrows at you. You give him a half hearted glare, before continuing onwards. Lancer is waiting for you, standing in the middle of the road, his back turned towards you. He laughs.

“So, you’ve made it across the great board, the halfway point to our castle… Too bad you won’t make it any farther than this! Cause me an’ my guys are gonna thrash you! Prepare to be turned into mere puddles of blood!” You prepare for a fight, as he turns around and laughs, showing a blue bucket with a spade on it. You wait, nothing happens. 

“So, what’d you think purple lady? Was I scary?” Susie blinks, before replying.  
“Why’re you askin’ me?!” He flinches, and responds. 

“Well, it’s cause you’re scary! And I wanna be like you!” Susie’s face morphs into one of embarrassment.  
“Wait, you wanna be like me?” Lancer nods, “Well you can’t.” He frowns. “But, uh, the laugh wasn’t bad at being scary.” He perks up again. “And the part about turning us into blood was pretty neat…” You felt some sweat roll down your forehead. Neat? Lancer beams at the compliments. “Wow! Thanks clowns!” He frowns, seemingly unhappy with his words. 

“Hey, I’ve been calling you guy clowns this whole time. Do you guys have like, an official team name or something?” The four of you share a glance. Ralsei immediately jumps on the idea.  
“Oh, we should make a team name for ourselves!” You and Susie aren’t particularly keen on the idea, but agree anyways. You all put the names in the bucket, and Lancer shakes it around a bit. He holds the bucket out to Kris, and he reaches in and pulls out a crumpled up paper. He hands it to you. You open the paper and read it out loud.  
“So, we’re now called the, uh.” You stop, and turn your head very slowly to Susie. She smirks. 

“It’s pronounced The $!$? Squad.” You groan, shaking your head in denial. You’re never gonna hear the end of this if you make it back home… Lancer gasps “That’s a tier-two swear for me!” Ralsei glares at Susie.  
“Kris, couldn’t you have picked a different name?” Kris shrugs, and Ralsei hangs his head in defeat.  
“Well, that’s settled then! I gotta go osmose my daily milk, see ya later, name I can’t say!” He dashes off, and you’re left with the fact that you’ve been labeled as a cursed group...LITERALLY. Kris starts heading off in the direction Lancer went, and the rest of you follow behind. A few minutes of more of those flashing warp puzzles and you run into Lancer again. He turns around again, laughing in that shrill voice of his. 

“Well, if it isn’t the name I can’t say squad! How’ve you been?” You shrug at him.  
“Aside from questioning my teammate’s choice in naming, pretty good.” It takes a moment for your comment to settle in. 

“HEY!” Ah, there it is. Lancer laughs again.  
“You boys and girls better be ready to turn back, cause even I can’t get past here!” He steps forward. “It’s actually quite inconvenient!” Another step. “I can’t go home because of this!” Step. “I’m so scared of this thing!” Susie fidgets in place, unnerved by Lancer’s comments. You all step forward, and see the checker piece again. You blink, before turning to Lancer.

“THAT? That, is what you’re afraid of?” You gotta agree with Susie, it wasn’t that hard to beat, and you didn’t even do anything to it. Lancer is in awe at her bravery.  
“W-wow, you aren’t scared at all purple girl?” She scoffs, “Please, what’s it gonna do?” Lancer hums, “Well, usually…” The checker piece takes a step forward, reaching the end of the board. Wait, doesn’t that usually mean… You see a crown slowly land on its head, and it clicks into place how screwed you are. It grows to three times it size, and it’s legs extend more. It takes a step towards you, the ground shaking as a result. 

“It usually crushes people to death.”


	7. Friendship under Maintenance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You clutch your chest, an empty feeling stuck in your SOUL that you just can't figure out why its stuck there.

You’ve seen your fair share of weird in this world, but never, EVER,would you think to yourself that you would face a giant checker piece. Moving back, you all get ready to fight the thing. Kris uses his turn to CHECK the enemy, and the info it gives does NOT help.  
“Check? That’s chess not checkers!” You raise a brow at the info being told to you. Ralsei gets your attention, and he raises a sign with a large axe on it. It dawns on you that Susie will probably strike the enemy down, so you look to the checker piece and point to the sign, hoping it’ll get the message. 

It didn’t. It makes no effort to try and dodge her swing, and takes a nasty blow to the face as a result. You grimace, realizing that you’ll have to finish the fight quick if you want both sides to get out of this unscathed. You look for any glaring weaknesses in the enemy, but nothing is coming up as obvious. The oversized checker piece takes this time to leap high in the air, before slamming down near you. You barely avoid its legs as it kicks out towards you. Star like objects surround you, and you bat away at a few with your dagger. Kris whistles to get its attention, and him and Ralsei bow together. You stare at them confused, before noticing it bow back at them. The crown wobbles on its head. The crown! That’s it! You nod at the two, before turning back to Susie.

“Susie! We’ve gotta get that crown off it’s head, help us out here!” She looks to you, then back to the foe. She lets out a laugh.  
“Sure, I’ll make it drop that crown,” You sigh in relief- “When I crush it to PIECES.” You wanna throw a punch at her. Knowing that you probably can’t convince her anymore, you refocus your attention on the enemy. Kris and Ralsei continue to bow, but you wonder if there’s a more effective way to get the crown off. Running around the enemy, you see the way the crown is tilted slightly to the right of the head. Slam, another hit from Susie. Suddenly, the Checker piece moves near you, and it summons a giant cart of, almond milk? The large cut that Susie made disappears, and it begins to move faster. Great, now it can HEAL itself? You move next to Kris, who pauses and looks to you.

“Hey, you got any hard surfaces that I can stand on?” He points to the floor. “Funny. But seriously, do you?” He pulls out a metal shield. “Perfect! Ok, after you bow, just hold it up like an umbrella, got it?” He doesn’t know where you’re going with this, but nods anyways. Like before, Kris and Ralsei bow, and per your instructions, the latter holds his shield up. You start to run, picking up speed until you leap onto his shield, then into the air. The crown is practically gonna fall at this point, so all you need to do is wait till it stops moving. It shuffles around a bunch, before coming to a stop, right where your pistol is locked to. Bingo, you fire, and the bullet sends the crown soaring off its head. You land, noting how sore your legs are going to be later. Turning around, you see the checker piece shrink back to normal, rolling away from you. Kris and Ralsei share a high five. ‘Cute,’ you think to yourself. Susie pants, looking accomplished. 

“Did, did we do it?” Lancer is in awe.  
“Wow, you guys really are heroes! You just saved the next twenty minutes of my life!” Susie drinks in the compliments, dusting off invisible dust.  
“Heh, yeah, I AM pretty great, aren’t I?” Ralsei opens his mouth, but you stop him dead with your voice, dripping with barely concealed anger.  
“Pretty great?” She turns to look at you, confusion on her face.  
“Oh, yeah, you were pretty great, IF you wanted to get us KILLED!” You whirl around and face her, a scowl finding its way on your face.  
“What the HELL were you thinking?! You saw where hitting things over and over got you, so why didn’t you stop? If you actually took the time to PLAN OUT your moves, we probably would’ve been at the castle by now! Honestly, do you ever THINK about your actions? I swear, it’s like talking to a brick sometimes-” 

Something sharp collides with your face, and you fall back, clutching the area where you got struck. You pull your hand away, and it’s coated in blood. You look up, and find yourself seeing a purple claw coated in the same red liquid. Her face is shadowed, but you can tell it’s not gonna be pretty. She chuckles, turning into full blown laughter. She looks straight at you, and for the first time in a while, you felt fear towards her.  
“When you put it like that, yeah. I guess I’ve been a pretty shitty hero, huh?” She wipes your blood off on her trousers, walking away from you.  
“I guess if I can’t be one of the good guys, then” She runs over to Lancer’s side. “I’ll just have to be one of the bad guys then!” You glare at her, anger written across both your faces. You stand up abruptly, injury long forgotten.

“So that’s it huh? Just gonna run away from the problem?” She laughs again, before giving you the smuggest grin.  
“Nah, just felt like being on the winning team for once.” She and Lancer run off, and you're left with your original party once again. You scream in frustration, throwing your dagger after them, letting it clatter uselessly to the ground a short moment later. You breath is shaky, and you can feel your muscles twitch from the adrenaline given to you by that scratch. Ralsei moves over to you, patting your leg gently, in hopes you wouldn’t yell at him.  
“Well, that was a more, ah, direct way of pointing out her flaws (Y/n), b-but I’m sure she’ll be back soon!” You look to him, glare lessening with each passing second. You close your eyes, and force yourself to relax. Thinking back, you WERE pretty harsh on her. You sigh to yourself, coming to a conclusion that the other two may not like. 

“Hey, I think… I think it’d be best if we part ways from here on out.” Ralsei pulls back at your suggestion, shock evident on his face.  
“What? But why?” You turn and give him a look, and he flinches again from your gaze.  
“Face it Rals, she and I will just never get along, no matter how hard you want to believe otherwise. From what I gather, you three have been together since before I even joined, correct?” He tries to form a response, but you cut him off. “If I stay here any longer, I fear that this whole team thing’ll fall apart. So, I think it’s best if I go now, rather than later.” You pick up the dagger, its cold handle giving you some form of comfort. You walk back across the board, waiting for the panel to flash and take you back to the start. 

“Wait!”You turn around, giving Ralsei the best smile you can muster at a time like this.  
“Maybe we’ll see each other again some time, and this will all be in the past.” White takes over your vision, and you begin walking back to the castle, wondering when that so called reunion will be. 

As (Y/n) leaves, you put your hand on Ralsei’s shoulder, nudging him in the direction of Lancer and Susie. He looks to you, eyes brimming with tears.  
“I just don’t get it Kris. How did something so small turn into the whole party splitting?” You pat his shoulder gently, walking with him onwards. A little ways off, you cross paths with the two again.  
“Well if it isn’t my former friends! Are you prepared,” Lancer continues where Susie left off. “To face a team..” Susie finishes the speech. “That’s prepared to thrash ANYONE who gets in our way?” They both pose.  
“Dark Jack Lancer!”  
“Violent ax Susie!”  
“Together we are, The dark $!$? Squad!” You blink, before Ralsei speaks. 

“So, what exactly is your plan now?” The two look at him, and Susie replies, in a miffed tone.  
“Dude, we just formed our team, we haven’t gotten anything past our intro yet.” Lancer continues, “Please have a little patience, toothpaste boy!” Ralsei narrows his eyes at the nickname, before coming up with a response.  
“Well, I suppose I’ll have to look forward to that plan at some point then, right?” Susie grins.  
“Yeah, so watch your backs,”  
“And your fronts!” They run off, leaving you and Ralsei alone again.  
“Seems she’s really getting into her new role, huh Kris?” You look at Ralsei, a frown on his lips. You can’t help but nod. You keep going, already starting to miss the the two that separated from your party.

You kick some random rock on your trip back to the castle, head slumped, shoulders locked to your sides, and your hands in your pockets. Dammit, why did you lash out at her? You had gotten along fine for the most part, hell, she even apologized to you earlier. Why, why why why why why WHY?! You groan to yourself. Some friend YOU are. You stop near Seam’s shop again. You clutch your chest,an empty feeling stuck in your SOUL that you just can't figure out why its stuck there.Feeling like you have nothing to lose, you walk back into the tent, jingling the bell at the doorway as you enter. He perks up, before smiling at you.  
“Back already? And where are your friends?” You shake your head.

“We, decided it would be best if we left on our own.” He frowns, you know it’s a lie, but if it keeps your from thinking about them, your fine with that. He walks back to a cabinet in the corner, searching for something, before pulling a bottle out and a shot glass. He pours a cup and slides it to you. You look at him questioningly. He laughs, “It’s not alcoholic if you’re wondering.” You shrug, downing it in one gulp. It tastes, foul. You try not to gag, but can’t help it when he slugs the whole thing down. He laughs at your expression. 

“Don’t worry, everyone does that the first time they taste this!” You chuckle, and his grin gets wider. 

 

“There ya go, a good laugh fixes anyone up! Now, what seems to be the problem?” You give it some thought, before relaying all that had happened after you left his shop. He nods at some points, frowns at others, and looks off into the distance when you finish. He hums, thinking deeply on your problems. As deep as a cat can, you guess. He nods to himself, looking at you, and moving his head to follow him. You leap over the counter, and he pulls open a trapdoor. You look at him with questions, and he smiles vaguely.  
“This will take you directly to the castle, you’d better go now, while it’s still quiet over there.” You blink, but before you have a chance to ask how he has access to the castle, he shoves you down, and slams the door as you enter. He frowns as you leave, walking back to the counter.  
“I really hope this works out for you, lad…”

You deal the finishing compliment at Lancer, and he fidgets.  
“Uh oh…” Susie looks at him, “What’s wrong dude?” He turns to Susie.  
“I accidentally started liking the enemy… Now i just feel all round and squishy when I see them! Bad atmosphere for battle though.” She sighs, before putting away her axe.  
“Huh. Well if you don’t want to fight, no point in going on I guess.” She looks at you and Ralsei.  
“Well, you technically didn’t beat us, since you uh, used kindness… But I suppose a deal’s a deal.” Lancer looks dejected at this.  
“Susie, does this mean, we can’t be friends anymore?” She flinches at his expression, stuttering out a response.  
“What? No, you can just, um…. Be a part of our group!” You and Ralsei exchange glances.  
“Really?! Hooray! Cue the fanfare!” Once again, loud music pours from somewhere, and you get the message that Lancer joined you. He looks around, as if something was missing.

“Say, where’s that other human? Is he gone or something?” Ralsei sighs, before pushing his glasses up and replying to the question.  
“(Y/n) decided it would be best if he left the group.”  
You blink at the words goat boy speaks.  
“Gone, what’d mean gone?” Ralsei stares right through you.  
“He believed that you and him wouldn’t be able to get along well enough, so he decided to part ways with us.” You can’t help but growl. And he tells you YOU'RE the one running away from the problem. You sigh, before walking off towards Lancer’s castle. The rest of the gang shares a look, and you can just feel their pity gazes on you. Whatever, if he’s done with you, then so will you be with him.


	8. Castle Espionage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No? It seems you misunderstand... Since when does a SOULess vessel MAKE choices?"

You groan as your vision swims, that cat is EVIL. You get up, feeling sore all over. Taking a look around, you’re in some kind of dungeon it looks like. A few cells here and there, a cobweb in the corner, nothing you haven’t seen in typical jails before. Walking forward, you feel as if something is watching you. You turn to the nearest cell, and are greeted with two eyes. The eyes blink, you blink back. A voice begins to speak, presumably the eyes.

“Wow, nice landing. Did the guards get to you or what?” You shake your head, and the eyes move along the cell. “It may seem like there’s a person attached to these eyes, but actually, I’m just the eyes!” The unfortunate implications of that do not miss you, and you quickly walk away from it. A couple of hallways later, and you see an elevator door in the distance. Before you can even press the button, the elevator signals its arrival on your floor. You run back the way you came from, finding an empty jail cell to hide in. You shut the door part way, listening for anything headed in your direction Two voices near you, both walking closer. 

 

“So what do we do with these schmucks?” You peek out the crack, and gasp quietly. It’s Lancer! And it looks like your former party got caught. Their all unconscious, being dragged by two red diamond like enemies. You notice how they have several scapes and cuts, and you almost run out when you notice Susie took most of the hits. Probably tried to defend the others….They put  
Kris and Ralsei in one cell, and Susie in another. Lancer and one of the guards walk off, and you're left with a dilemma. You wait a moment, watching the guards’ walk cycle, before opening the door slowly. You move up to him quietly, crouching and taking every opportunity you have to hide behind a wall or leftover crate. Finally, you make it to where Susie’s cell is, and swiftly knock out the guard with a choke hold. You rob a key off of him, and open the lock to her cell. 

You move over to her, lifting her up into a sitting position. Taking a closer look at her injuries, nothing seems to be broken. She did get a nasty cut on her right arm though. You look for anything you can use to wrap it in, and your gaze eventually falls to your left hand. With a sigh, you untie the white ribbon and wrap it around her arm. It begins to slowly begins to change colors, going from white to a light red. You get up, walking out of her cell, before you hear something you’d never thought you’d hear from her. She’s shivering in her sleep. You go back to her, waiting for any reaction other than her being cold. She begins to mumble, and you catch some of the words she says.  
“Don’t….Why…miss you…” You can’t make sense of what those words mean, maybe she’s dreaming about a family member? She shivers again. You remove your vest, letting it drape over her. Heh, when she looks like this, she seems pretty cute. You wait to see if anything else happens, and when nothing does, you get up, closing the jail door behind you.It clicks audibly, and you leave the key in the lock. You make your way back to the elevator, and step into it. It shakes, and your soon propelled upwards. You come to a stop, and the door open. You peek your head around the corner, no one’s around. You step out of the elevator, and begin making your way deeper into the castle. There are guards everywhere, and they certainly don’t make it easy for you. You move at a sloth’s pace, using every shadow and blind spot you can find to evade their sight. You reach a room with a dead end, and are about to turn around, when spikes pop out of the ground. Shit, did they lure you into a trap?! A flash of light blinds you, and you hear a posh, and refined voice speak out. 

“Hahaha, thou hast fallen for mine trickery, worm!” A blue human pops out of the beam of light, smiling smugly at you. He chuckles at your expression. “Behold! I am Roulxs Kaard! Master of puzzles! Toil in despair at my sheer genius!” A puzzle appears in front of you.  
“...That’s a master puzzle?” You gape at the extremely simple block puzzle set before you. He nods, proud of your recognition at his mastery of puzzles. You can’t help but snort. You walk over and push the block over, and the spikes drop, opening the way back the way you came. He’s speechless, watching as you leave the room.  
“GOD. DAMN IT.” 

You continue to climb up the castle, reaching an area with rotating spires, each with a single spinning line of diamonds. You maneuver around the spires, taking measures to not get caught in an endless loop. You make it to another set of stairs, and climb up to another floor. It’s a safe room, no guards as far as you can see. You sigh, sitting down for a moment. You take a minute to reflect on what got you this far, and if you’ll ever find a way back home.Time passes, and you look out a nearby window, the castle looking over the places you’ve been to. For the first time, you’ve never felt more alone in your life. After resting for a few more minutes, you get up and walk over to a large door. Opening it takes some effort, but you manage to let it widen enough to let you through. It’s a throne room, with destroyed tapestries and a throne slashed down the middle. It’s in the shape of a large spade, no doubt belonging to the king. You step forward, before jumping back and pulling out your dagger. A figure walks out from behind the throne. Before you get a chance to react, spades from all around you fly in your direction. You deflect a few, but there’s too many. The first one that struck catches you off guard, and more follow. You feel cuts all along your body, each one slowing your movement until you collapse from it all. You look up, the figure is still there, and they move to you. You draw your pistol, shakily aiming it towards them. Your shot goes wide, and the figure slams into you, flinging you across the room. You hit the throne, too weak to move your body. You lift your head, and are finally able to get a good look at your assailant. He looks like Lancer, if he was bigger. His stomach opens into a grin, accompanied with, is that a TAIL?! He laughs, it echoes across the room. 

“Well, well, looks like I caught one of the lightners!” You grit your teeth, glaring at him with as much energy as you can.  
“Oh come now, I won’t kill you quite yet. You see, you’ll be very useful in case others attempt to siege my castle. I do have a proposition for you though.” He pauses, waiting for your response. You spit out some blood, far enough to coat his boots. His grin fades.  
“Like hell I’ll bargain with you! Do what you want, it won’t change my mind!” He stays silent, before chuckling. It turns into full blown laughter, raising his head into skywards and laughing. He looks back at you, and he’s got that malicious smirk on again.  
“No? I’m afraid you misunderstand…” A sharp stab of pain hits you, and you look down to your chest. A hole where your SOUL should reside is now there, replaced with a white spade. You look up, and the last thing you hear before losing consciousness is a demand.  
“A lifeless vessel can’t MAKE choices.”

You gasp as you come to, finding yourself in a cell. It’s dark, and you can’t see much. Something warm is wrapped around you, and you look down to see a familiar vest. (Y/n’s) vest. You stare at it confused, if this was his vest, then where was he? Your body aches, and your mind is sluggish. You try to recall what had happened before all this. That’s right, Lancer had run off, and you were ambushed by guards. You look around. The cell is empty, save for a single trash can. You try the cell door, and there’s the key, just sitting there. You open the jail cell, throwing the unconscious guard in the can. You hear a familiar voice, and you run back in and press your head against the wall.  
“..Where Susie is.” You call out, hoping they’ll hear you.  
“Hey! Goat boy, is that you?” You hear shuffling, and the voice speaks again.  
“Susie? Is that you? Where are you right now?” Yep, definitely toothpaste.  
“I’m in a cell, but (Y-) uh, someone left the door open.” You can hear Ralsei moving in the cell across.  
“Wow! You sure are lucky, Susie!” You feel lucky he can’t see you, cause you feel your face get hotter. You move away from the wall, calling out to him one last time.  
“Hey, stay there, alright? I’ll find a way to get’cha outta there.” You leave without waiting for his response, leaving the cell and looking for a way to him. You see a wall with a puzzle on it, and you growl. Of course there’s a puzzle blocking the way. You look back, you could just ask Ralsei for help. You shake your head, dammit, you can just solve this own your own, right? You look at the puzzle, slowly putting in what you think is the answer. It clicks, and the wall slides inwards, revealing Lancer and a guard! You start making your way to him, before what he says stops you cold.

“Understand? They can’t be let out or else…” The guard nods, walking off to another part of the jail. You walk up to him, calling out his name.  
“Lancer?” He whirls around, noticing it was you and stutters.  
“S-susie?” You walk closer, talking in a softer voice than you would usually use.  
“Listen, Kris and Ralsei are still locked up somewhere, can ya help me find them?” He looks away, a frown adorning his usually cheerful face. He turns away from you, and delivers some crushing news.  
“I know, Susie. I-I was the one who told the guards to keep you three down here. Forever.” You feel like someone punched you hard in the gut. Lancer, wanted to keep you here?

“L...Lancer, you… Wanted to get rid of us?” You lower your head. “I thought we were a team.” He’s quick to wave his hands.  
“Susie, I can explain…” You turn away from him, unwilling to even look at him anymore. Damn, you should’ve seen this coming. Everyone leaves or betrays you somehow, someway. It just took you until now to be sick of it. You grin to yourself.  
“Nah. You don’t have to explain anything to me.” You look down at the floor, and your vision goes red.  
“Why would anyone want to be my friend anyways?” You see him stagger back.  
“Susie, that’s not-” You whirl around, a scowl on your face.  
“Shut up.” He flinches. “Susi-” You roar at him, “SHUT UP.” You step towards him, your footsteps echoing through the hallway. You glare down at him. “Move.” He shivers, weakly responding. “N-no..” You slam your fist into the wall, and it cracks.  
“Did I stutter? MOVE.” He shakes his head again, and you laugh.  
“No? Then I guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way. (Y/n’s) Vest falls off your shoulders, and you swing your axe. “The guards’ll have a fun time…Wiping you off the floor!” 

You swing your axe at him, landing a solid hit. He flinches, but doesn’t move from his spot. You grin, “Hey, wanna know what happens to traitors?” You swing again.  
“They. Get. CRUSHED.” He throws a few spades at you, and you avoid all of them, swinging your axe again. He falls to one leg, blood dripping down it. You narrow your eyes.  
“Can’t even fight back huh? That’s fine by me.” You raise your axe, preparing to end him.  
“It’ll make it easier for me to cut you down!” You swing, and the axe lands next to him. You blink confused, before attempting to raise your axe again. You can’t find any strength to do so. You growl, lowering yourself to the ground. Lancer limps closer to you. “S-susie? You missed.” You look at him, despair evident on your face. “Just move out of the way, ok? I don’t want to kill you.” He shakes his head again.  
“If I do, you’ll have to see my dad, and if you do you’ll fight and get hurt…” You sigh, trying to convince him will be hard. “Hey. Maybe we won’t HAVE to fight. I’ll just talk things out with him!” He looks up, shocked at your proposal, before grinning again.  
“Yeah, that could work! I’ll go butter him up, here,” He tosses you some keys, “You go free your friends, I’ll go talk to my dad!” He starts to run off, before looking back at you.  
“Susie?” He spoke in a quiet tone. You nod your head.  
“Are, are we still, friends?” You blink. The guys’ bleeding, and he still wants to be friends? You give him a smile. “Yeah, we can still be friends.” He beams, and races off to find his father. You turn to the left, spotting a path that leads somewhere. You walk off, grabbing (Y/n’s) vest. A lingering thought surfaces in the back of your head. 'Where are you, (Y/n)?' 

Lancer runs through the castle halls, knowing that he can find his father at the top of the castle. Turning a corner, he bumps into someone, falling backwards. The figure reaches out to him, and he takes it.  
“Sorry milord, I did not see you there.” Lancer blinks, looking up at the figure. He’s covered in all black, a long tailcoat and domino mask on his face. He lifts him up, and pats him down.  
“Say, do you work here or something? I don’t think I recognize you.” The mysterious person chuckles, and Lancer can see his eyes. They were (e/c).  
“No, I just started working here. Your father told me to watch the throne room.” Lancer nods, speeding off again to find his father. The figure narrows his eyes, turning to the entrance to the throne room. He sits in a nearby chair, waiting to challenge any who dare to oppose his lord. He looks down at the dagger in his hand. It’s coated with blood, but not his own. 

You hear your cell door open, and you spot a familiar monster standing there. Ralsei runs over to Susie, hugging her. She blushes, prying him off slowly.You and Ralsei notice something draped over her shoulders. It’s (Y/n’s) vest. Ralsei blinks. “Susie? Why do you have (Y/n)’s vest?” She blushes, but doesn’t take it off.  
“I found it around me when I woke up.” Hmmm, your mind is turning with the possibilities, before stopping on one. You grin, and so does Ralsei. Her face twists into angry embarrassment.  
“Wh-whatever thoughts you’re thinking of, it’s not true!” Sure it isn’t. You leave the cell, hopping into an elevator and riding it back up to the ground floor. Exiting, you see another elevator in the distance. You run towards it, waiting for it to reach your floor. You step into it, noting a card with Lancer’s face on it is turned into the button labeled “TOP FLOOR” You push it, and the elevator zooms upwards. You take this time to sit down on the floor. Ralsei does the same, with Susie leaning on one of the walls. Susie clears her throat, and the two of you look to her. 

“Listen, Lancer thinks we can just talk to his dad, and you two know I’m not good at that stuff. Y’know, groveling. S-so, if you don’t mind. I’d uh, appreciate it if you taught me how to ACT.” Ralsei beams.  
“Aw, Susie, of course we’ll teach you how to act, right Kris?” You give a nod, and lurch as the elevator stops. Ralsei steps out first, and you start to follow, before a hand stops you. You look back to see Susie, her face in a less stern way. “Kris, look. From here on out it’ll probably get tougher. So I’m gonna say this now. If you tell me to do something during a fight, I’ll do it.” A load of thoughts swarm in your head. “Just don’t make me do anything dumb alright? Or I’ll go back to crackin’ heads!” She turns to leave, before pausing. “Kris… I’m counting on you, alright? You follow after her, a smile on your face. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. You all enter a nearby shop, and are greeted with the store owner laying down and winking.  
“Welcome to my shop, worms.” You take a look around, finding a sturdy shield with a weird symbol on it. You point to the shield, and he laughs.  
“Dost thine Delta shield interest thee? Five hundred Dark dollars!” You glare at him, handing over a gold coin. He takes it, and you pick up the shield. It’s light, and you read through it’s description carefully. 

*A lightweight shield that can deflect certain attacks. DEFENDing casts a barrier on your party, reducing damage for one turn. You nod to yourself, putting away your old wooden shield. You look around some more, finding a container of, worms? You point to it, and he smirks.  
“Why, tis my own collection of worms!” You stare at him. Don’t you call US worms? Shaking your head, you pick up what looks like a plate of them and put it on the counter. After some more shopping, you prepare to leave, but he stops you.  
“Ah, beforest thou leave mine shoppe, I shouldeth warn you. There is someone waitingst for thou in the throne room.” Susie perks up.  
“It’s (Y/n)!” Wow, she sure sounds excited. She runs off, and you and Ralsei struggle to keep up. You stop running as you spot a distant figure. Ralsei wastes no time in running up to him.

“(Y/n)! So you decided to come back after all?” He doesn’t turn, and you get the feeling that something isn’t right. You hear something charging up, and dive to push Ralsei out of the way. A giant beam follows where Ralsei stands shortly after, and you drag him back to Susie, raising your shield in preparation for future attacks. He turns, and your blood runs cold. The skin you can see from him is a light gray, and his face is covered with a mask. He speaks, voice completely lacking the former warmth it brought with it.  
“I’m afraid that (Y/n) has clocked out for the day. This is your final challenge before you face milord. As for my name?” He looks up, and his (e/c) eyes are dull, lacking any sort of emotion.  
“You can call me the Jack of the deck.”


	9. Fight Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle wages on, both inside and out.

You come to in a dark room. You can’t see anything, it’s too dark. Feeling around, you find some kind of switch and flip it. Instantly, the room brightens, and you see someone standing in a field of flowers. You walk up to them, wary of what they’ll do. They turn around, and you can’t believe what your eyes are seeing. It’s you, but horribly wrong. His skin is grey, with visible veins pulsing erratically. He’s dressed sharply, a long black tailcoat, with a domino like mask on his face. He chuckles at your reaction to him.  
“So, you’re finally awake, too bad you won’t be able to leave.” You glare at him.  
“Says who?” You reach for your gun, pointing it at his head. He laughs again, and your unnerved by how similar he sounds to you. He flashes a grin at you, and the wind suddenly picks up.  
“Says me, the real (Y/n).” 

You dart across the throne room, swinging with your axe. He dodges out of the way, easily catching your weapon and throwing it away. You grit your teeth, throwing a punch to his face. He catches it with your hand, and your lifted off your feet and slammed into a wall. You grunt as you get to your feet, picking up your axe and moving back to the center of the room. Kris and Ralsei form up with you, and your opponent laughs.  
“Sheesh, and here I thought you’d actually put up a fight!” He reaches into his back pocket and takes out a deck of cards. Shuffling them, he takes the top card and flips it so it faces you. The throne room shifts, and you are now standing on a huge playing card like arena. He throws three cards at you, and you catch them. You look at the cards, they each have your faces on them. You look at him, glaring.  
“What the hell are you giving us these for?” He smirks, before pulling out a card with his face on it.  
“Let’s play a game….”

You fire your gun at the same time he does, moving to the right. The bullets hit each other, and the resulting explosion from them kicks up a ton of dust. You look up, and are greeted with a punch to the face. You fly back, skidding across the flowers, kicking up petals as you go. Getting back up, you see him standing there. You grit your teeth, putting away your gun and drawing your dagger. He does the same, and rushes towards you. You barely have enough time to block the dagger with your own, and he smirks, pushing you slowly back. You put more force into your hand, and reach a stalemate where neither of you can get an opening. You jump back, moving away from him. He doesn’t let up, throwing his dagger straight at you. You catch it, flipping it into a reverse hold in your right hand. He blinks, before moving his hand in an arc and a sword appears in front of him. You rush forward again, using your dagger to make quick jabs and his dagger to block his swings. The fight becomes a deadly duel of metal clashing against metal. You cross your blades as he performs an overhead swing, the tip of the sword coming close with your face. You kick out with your right leg, staggering him. With the opening you made, you punch him in the opposite part of the face where he did the same to you, sending him back a few feet. He drops the sword, and you pick it up. He grasps at his face, and looking at you reveals the mask he wore is cracked, blood dripping down his left eye. He roars, and you cover your eyes with your left arm when dust picks up again. When it settles, your left with a horrifying sight. He’s transformed into what most would describe as an angel, but it looks horribly wrong. His wings are completely blood soaked, and there aren’t any visible feathers on them. His hands have warped into claws, each tipped with a fingernail so long it could pierce right through you. His lower half is covered in a shadowy substance, obscuring it. He charges at you again, and you raise your sword to defend yourself.

“Each card in this deck does something different, but the person who draws the highest number has their effect activate. I’ll leave the effects a mystery to you for now. First to get the highest card value possible,” He holds up a joker card, “wins this little game of mine.” The game begins, and you all get a deck placed in front of you. You draw a card, and so do the others. Jack of hearts... You reveal the card to him, and he shakes his head. He reveals his, Queen of spades. Damn, you look to Kris and Ralsei. Kris has the King of Diamonds, and Ralsei a nine of hearts. Kris’ card shines, and you hear a grunt of pain. You look back to the imposter (Y/n). His right arm is now scorched, and you can see some blood dripping down his side. You grin to yourself, he deserved it. You draw another card, three of clubs. You look to your friends. Jack of diamonds and ten of clubs. You look over to the imposter, and his grin reveals a King of spades. His card flashes, shooting out a beam that hits Ralsei in the chest. He cries out, and disappears. Your eyes widen, turning back to your enemy.

“What the FUCK did you do with him?!” He smirks, and you grind your teeth.  
“Out of the game for the next round.” You realize this lowers your chances of getting the joker card, and growl in frustration. 

You grip your right side hard. You can feel your hand getting slick with your blood. Meanwhile you’ve yet to hit the demon once. You swing your blade in a wide arc, hoping to catch him at some point. He stands on top of the sword, flipping backwards and avoiding your attack entirely. You dodge left as his claw comes within striking distance of your chest. You swipe at him, cutting the arm from the rest of its body. He screeches in pain, and your drenched in a black liquid. It burns your skin, but you push on and slice his wing. He swings his remaining arm in an arc, and you put up your sword to block the blow. You scream as the blade shatters in your hand, and his arm rakes the side where your wound is located. You crumple to the ground, holding your side in agony. You hear footsteps above you, and you open one eye to see your assailant jump up, one of his claws outstretched to stab you. You feel around for anything, and you find something sharp. You hold it out in front of you, closing your eyes and hoping for the best. You feel something stop right above you, and you freeze. Opening your eyes, you find a claw inches from your chest. Your arm holding the sharp weapon punctured through his chest, and his eyes display shock. He dissolves slowly, shifting to lay on the ground next to you. You get up, clutching your side and looking down at him. He chuckles weakly.  
“So this is how I die huh? Killed by the real person I’m imitating… It’s funny, ya know?” You raise an eyebrow.

“I always wanted to know what having friends felt like… even though I only existed for a short time.” He finally fades, and your left with his half mask clattering to the ground in front of you. You pick it up, and place it over the left side of your face. It fits perfectly. Moreover, you blink, and the environment shifts to a more digital green look. You spot a door in the distance, and walk over to it. It opens without you even interacting with it, and you head on through.

The deck in front of you is dwindling. So far, most of the cards have been in your favor, keeping you and your party well and running, and him sluggish. He growls at his three of hearts, and your card, queen of hearts, activates. All the cards in your deck fly around, until only one is left in your pile. You take it. It’s the joker card. You show it to him, and his glare is replaced with shock. He laughs, before snapping his fingers. The room shifts back to the throne, and he steps away from you.  
“Hot damn, didn’t think you’d beat me.” He looks back at you, his eyes much more serene than what you’d think a SOULless vessel would be. He points to the stairs behind the throne, and begins to speak.  
“Well, deals a deal, go on ahead.” You blink at him, moving carefully over to the staircase. Ralsei runs over, and so does Kris. They pause, turning to look back at the fake. He’s dissolving into dust, starting at his legs, and traveling slowly up his body. 

 

“Hold on, where’s (Y/n)?” Ralsei points out, and you realize that as well. The human takes off his mask, and you can see his eyes much more clearly. They’re the same color as (Y/n)’s.  
“He’s up ahead, go on now.” You don’t believe him, not for a second. Before you have a chance to question him, he turns to you. You swear you can see some emotion behind his eyes, but its gone the moment you notice it.  
“Hey, purple one. Take good care of my real self, aight? He’s been through a lot.” With that last sentence, he finally fades away, the mask dropping to the ground and shattering. You head up the steps, finding (Y/n) slumped against a wall, snoring softly. Ralsei runs over to him, leaping the last few feet and hugging the man. He jolts awake, arm reaching for his gun, before noticing what hugged him. 

You startle when something hugs you, and reach for your gun, realizing something black and fuzzy is hugging you. It’s Ralsei. You chuckle, and pat his back.  
“Hey, kiddo, you sure do like hugs eh?” He nods into your shirt, and he looks up, eyes wet with tears. “S-sorry (Y/n), but we fought against someone who looked like you, and it felt like he was possessing you…” You pat his back, standing up and setting him to the ground. You look to the other two. Susie walks over and takes off your vest, handing it back to you.  
“Here, I think this is yours.” You nod, taking it from her hand and slipping it back on. It’s still warm from when she wore it. You give her a smile.  
“Thanks for keeping it warm for me.” She blushes, facing away from you and walking ahead. You chuckle, following shortly after. You enter a wide, open area, with a single walkway. It appears to be a bridge, with a circular center. You can see Lancer up ahead. He’s talking to the king, judging by how similar they look. You listen to him talk to the larger figure, going quiet when he seems to lose faith in what he was talking to him about. Suddenly the king picks him up in a death grip, clutching his neck with so much force you’re surprised it doesn’t snap. Susie points her axe in a threatening position.  
“HEY! Drop him, now.” The king laughs, turning Lancer around. His face is fearful, struggling weakly against the cold hand around his neck. The king speaks, voice all too familiar to you.

 

“Drop him? Yes, I suppose I can drop my son… off the Bridge, unless you kneel. Kneel like the scum you are! What will it be lightners?” Susie falters, her axe dropping to her side. She kneels, and so do the rest of your party. You do the same, and the king laughs again. “Yes, kneel. Now, watch lightners,” spades surround all of you, “As your last breath approaches!” Before he can launch them at you, Lancer sticks his hand out. A single spade hits the king in his back, and he drops Lancer as a result. He runs behind you, disappearing back the way you came. The king growls.  
“You, you TRAITOR!” Susie pulls her axe out in front of her again, and the rest of you do the same with your weapons.  
“Not so fast, you gotta go through us first if ya wanna kill him.” You point your gun at him, glaring with hatred. He stops advancing, and begins to laugh, throwing his head to the sky and continuing to laugh. “To my people, I am a hero, to you four?” He reveals himself, and your hatred for him becomes fury. “I’m the bad guy.” Kris makes an attempt to reason with the king, but forgoes it when he dodges the tail aimed for him. “Silence! Your talking will only get you so far with me!” He summons a few spades to distract you, and your forced to separate from each other as a result. You aim at his torso, firing a shot towards him. His tail easily deflects it back, and you grit your teeth. Susie tries to talk to him next, as does Ralsei, but all they get for it is insults and a spade to the face. You dash across, swinging your dagger into his chest. He blocks it, and you’re locked into a stalemate with him.

“Tell me,” He asks, “What does it feel like, to not have a SOUL?” You blink, pushing back harder as he begins to overpower you.  
“What are you getting at?” He laughs, jumping back as you attempt at a kick. He reaches into his cape, and what he pulls out makes your blood run cold. It’s your SOUL.  
“How the hell do you have that?!” He gives a smirk, letting it float next to him. You try to pull it back, and to your surprise find that you can’t. “What’s wrong? Having trouble there?” You growl, getting ready to run over to him again. Kris looks to you, and he notices a box appear in front of him.  
*(Y/n)’s will is changing… TALK became UNLOAD! He looks back to you, then to the king. He taps Ralsei’s shoulder, and whisper something to him. The goat looks confused for a second, before nodding. Kris’ soul begins to glow, and you feel something materialize in your pocket. You reach in and pull out six bullets. You smirk, throwing them high in the air. You spin your gun, and it flashes, becoming a revolver. All six bullets fall into their chambers, and you fire all of them at the king. He grunts as all of them hit him directly, and you give a thumbs up to Kris. The battle continues to wage on, and both sides get more and more desperate, attacks becoming fierce for one moment. Then stopping slowly as you regroup. After a while, you manage to nick him hard enough in the shoulder with a bullet, and he crumples to the ground. His cape flies away from him, and you lower your weapon. He coughs, and begins to speak again. It turns out he missed when lightners and darkners were friends. Ralsei goes to heal him, asking how he feels. You scream as a million spades stab into you at once. Falling to the floor, you can only watch as he sends Kris sliding back. He walks with a limp, picking Kris up like he did with Lancer. He speaks again, but your vision blurs, the corners of your sight becoming darker. ‘Get up, respond, DO ANYTHING’ Your body refuses to move, and your sight goes completely dark. 

(Y/n) is out, and Kris is about to get skewered alive. You force your arms to move, grabbing your axe and swinging it, sending a triangular beam towards the king. Once again, he turns to you, murderous intent evident. You staggers toward you, summoning more spades to impale into you. You stall for time, hoping that whatever plan Ralsei and Kris made, it works fast. The king flashes blue, and he stutters in his footsteps. He fall asleep slowly. You run over to Kris, helping him up to his feet. You turn back around, noticing Ralsei doing the same with (Y/n) He gets up slowly. Walking over to the king, he searches around, finding his SOUL. He lets it float back inside him,and you see him let out a sigh of relief. It’s over, it’s finally over.


	10. Home Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm glad you're my friend." You chuckle. 
> 
> "So am I."

You sigh in relief as you feel your SOUL back inside yourself. You look down at the king. You pity him, really. During your fight, it felt like he truly wanted things to go back to being the way they were before. But the past should stay in the past. You wait around as Susie and Kris go about saying goodbye to the monsters they’ve met, and Ralsei takes the time to properly patch you up. “Thanks Ralsei.” The goat smiles at you. “It’s not trouble at all! How do you feel?” You chuckle. “Honestly? I feel like I can take on the world.” He smiles back, sitting on the cliffside of the area. You follow suit, letting your legs dangle off the edge. “(Y/n)?” You turn your head. Ralsei is looking at you with a sad smile. “Are, are you going to go with Susie and Kris?” You blink, running a hand through your hair. “Yeah, I suppose so. Don’t got much to do around here, ya know?” Ralsei nods, disappointment clear on his face. You ruffle his hat. “Hey, come on now. None of that. We can always visit you again tomorrow, right?” He nods, and you hear Kris and Susie come back. “Hey you two, we’re just about to leave.” You stand up, and follow the two off the platform. Ralsei stops halfway. “I really enjoyed meeting you all, and I um...I just wanted to say…” He mumbles into his hat. “Hey, Ralsei, speak up man. Can barely hear ya!” Ralsei notices, and he takes off his hat. You and Susie stagger back at his face. It’s pure white instead of the pitch black you’ve become accustomed to. He smiles at the three of you. “Come back soon, ok? I’ll bake you lots of yummy cakes!” You and Susie share a glance. “Uh, yeah! Sure, see you soon!” You hastily turn around and grab Kris’ hand. You wave goodbye as you dash off. 

“Woah, is this the fountain?” You stare in shock at the giant black form that makes up the dark fountain. It shimmers and squirms occasionally, stilling after a few pulses. “Well, I guess this is it.” You nod absently at Susie’s comment. “It’s time to go home.” You and Kris felt your SOULS reach out to the fountain, and a bright light envelops the three of you. Your eyes adjust to the light, and you find yourself in an old classroom. You get up, noting how dark it was getting. You try one of the doors, locked. You hear a groan behind you, and you turn to find Susie and Kris on the ground. You help them both up. Kris is dressed in a simple striped green turtleneck, and Susie is wearing a purple jacket with torn up jeans. “The old classroom?” You nod your head. “Appears so.” You all leave the unused class, stepping out into a typical school hallway. Susie huffs. “Sun’s setting…” She and Kris walk over to a closet, and you follow after them. “Hmm, it’s locked.” You look at the closet. “Is there anything important about this thing?” They turn to look at you. “This is where me and Kris fell into that world.” You blink, looking at the closet. “So, what do we do now?” Susie shrugs. “Go home, I guess.” She turns to leave, before doubling back and putting a hand on each of your shoulders. “Kris, (Y/n)...” She gives a smile, one that felt genuine. “Let’s go back there tomorrow, yeah?” You both nod, and are startled when Kris’ phone rings. They answer, then holds the phone out to you. You take it, bringing it to your ear. “H-hello?” You hear a sweet feminine voice on the other end. “Hello? Who is this?” You look at Kris, who looks back at you. “Er, this is (Y/n), I’m a friend of Kris.” The voice responds back after a bit. “Friend of Kris? Oh, well then. Would you tell them to return home as soon as possible?” You nod in agreement, hanging up and handing the phone back to Kris. “Whoever called wants you home Kris.” They nod, running off out of the school. You look to Susie. “So, what are we gonna do?” She shrugs. “I dunno, want to tour the town?” You give a halfhearted glance. “Eh, sure why not.” 

 

“Man, this town sure does have a lot of monsters…” Susie snorts as she bites into a piece of chalk. “Well, besides Kris I think you’re the only other human around.” You nod, absently looking around. Susie gave you a rather simplistic tour of the town, only pointing out things when you asked. You met a couple of the folks around here, and they weren’t that bad. Your eyes lingered on the hospital longer than you cared to admit out loud. Eventually, you both stopped at the cliffside of the town, overlooking some parts of an ocean. You sigh quietly to yourself. Susie looks at you with a questioning gaze. “Something up?” You nod. “Yeah, the town’s nice and all, but I’m gonna have to figure out where to sleep for the night.” She blinks, looking away for a second in thought. She turns back to look at you, a visible flush on her face. “Well, you could always crash at my place…” You blink. “You sure? Don’t wanna intrude and all that. She barks a laugh. “Nah. No one’s ever home where I live, it’ll be fine.” A few minutes later and you stand in front of a decently sized manor. It looks run down and old, but sturdy enough to stand some decently bad weather. You whistle in appreciation. “Cool house.” She snorts, walking up to the porch and opening the door. “Well, you gonna stand there in the cold?” You hurry over to her, letting yourself inside. The manor is lit with a few candles here and there, and there’s a few hallways that lead into rooms. You look around, spotting a living room in the distance. Susie walks in front of you, heading through a nearby doorway. You follow after her, noticing a large mural with three people in it. They look happy… Susie leads you into her kitchen, where a few pots and pans are scattered about. A single fridge stands off to the side, with a sink and stove next to it. She opens the fridge scowling at the contents. “Damn, nothing good today either.” You take a peek inside, and gape at the stock. “Susie? Most of these are still edible!” She stiffens. “Yeah, if you can cook them.” You look at her. “What, your parents never taught you to cook?” She glares at you, looking away after a bit. “...They never got the chance to..” You blink in realization. “Oh.” Now you feel guilty. You take another look at the inside of the fridge. “Hey, does your stove still work?” She blinks. “Yeah, I think so, why?” You smile at her. “Lemme make you something to cheer you up. As sort of an apology for the comment earlier.” 

 

Something about (Y/n) makes you feel weird. Not like the bad kind, just odd. He takes a couple of items from the fridge, setting them on a clear part of the counter. You take a seat on one of the still functioning chairs, eyeing him curiously. He begins by taking one of the pans from the sink, rinsing it in a few times. He clicks his tongue at some of the stains, but sets it on the stove anyways. He turns the dial, and a light fire pokes out from underneath the pan. He cracks an egg, letting it fall into the pan quickly. Grabbing a spatula, he begins shaking the pan around with expertise you’ve only seen a few chefs in restaurant kitchens do. He quickly grabs a plate with his left hand, easily sliding the egg into the center. He grabs a slab of meat, picking up a kitchen knife as he goes about the kitchen. He holds it with his left hand, and begins to slice the meat into simple cuts. He turns to look back at you. “How thick do you want it?” You blink. “Uh, surprise me, I guess?” He nods, cutting a much larger slab before setting it aside. He puts some in the pan, seasoning it with some pepper. ‘Where’d he get that from?’ You look around the kitchen. You never really took a good look at every cabinet… A wonderful smells wafts from the pan, and the faint sizzling can be heard. You crane your neck to get a better look, but he’s moving the pan too quickly for you to get a good look at the meat. Your stomach grumbles, and you put a hand on it. He chuckles, setting a plate of meat aside for himself before grabbing your slice and repeating the process. He adds some more seasoning, letting it sit for a bit. He goes to another pot near him, stirring the contents inside. He puts a spoon in it and holds it out to you. “Want a taste?” You restrain yourself from jumping at him, taking the spoon and tasting the liquid on the utensil. It’s amazing. “Can you make more of this?!” He flinches at your voice, “Sure, you just gotta, uh, let go of my arm.” You blink, letting his arm go. You didn’t even realize you were holding onto his arm. “Sorry..” He shakes his head. “Water under the bridge.” As he continues to make some more dishes, you catch him singing a soft melody. It’s comforting, and you close your eyes as you listen to his voice. 

You turn around as you finish the tune that your mother taught you long ago, picking up several plates and setting them on the table. Susie is drooling at the food you made. You stifle a laugh, sitting on a chair opposite of her. You hand her a fork and knife. “Well, dig in!” She does so with gusto, grabbing a slice of meat and chewing on it with her teeth. You do the same, cutting yours and eating it more calmly. “OhmygodIloveyou.” Your head snaps up at her words “Wha-” She cuts you off. “Pass me the salt?” You pout, giving her the shaker. Dinner continues with the two of you eating silently. You sigh as you finish washing the dishes. You rub your shoulders. “You know, you didn’t have to do all that…” You turn to look at Susie. “No, It was not trouble at all. Cooking is one of the things I enjoy, so this was kinda child’s play compared to what I can really do in a kitchen.” You see her begin to speak, but it’s broken by a yawn. You look at a nearby clock. “Wow, almost midnight.” She groans. “Ugh,and I’ve got class tomorrow…” You blink at her. “Don’t you hate school or something?” She nods. “Yeah, but now I’ve got an actual reason to go.” You nod, too tired to respond. “So, where do I sleep?” She blinks at your question, unsurely glancing around. “Well, there’s only one actual bed in this place. So uh…” You sigh. 

“Floor it is then.” She waves her hands. “We could share!” Your thoughts are completely jumbled. “Uh, you sure?” She nods, leading you into her room. It’s fairly sparse, a desk in the corner and a bed in the middle. “So, how do you want to do this?” You end up in a VERY precarious position. You both face opposite sides of the wall, backs to each other. You close your eyes for what feels like the millionth time. “Hey, (Y/n)?” God dammit. You roll over to look at her, and she does the same. Her eyes glow slightly in the dark. “I just wanted to say, thanks. For everything today.” You snort, brushing back a lock of her hair on impulse. “I thought I told you thanks weren’t needed.” She nods, turning into her pillow a little bit. “Can I, ask you something?” Her tone sets off multiple signals in your mind, but you push them all aside. “Yeah?” She gulps, turning away from your eyesight. “Can, we be friends?” You blink, turning her head back to you with a hand. You give her a serene smile. “We never weren’t friends I don’t think. I wouldn’t be adverse to it either.” She gives you a small smile, and wraps her arms around you. She’s warm. “Thanks, (Y/n).” You chuckle, doing the same with your arms. “You’re welcome Sus.” You both drift off, warmth in both your SOULS.


End file.
